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A little fable about a cat, a chicken and some wasted words.
Posted October 20 2024
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Fill an empty grid with words, using the clues provided to help you.
A new crossword for the collection.
Fill the empty boxes with letters to make words running across and down. Use the numbered clues to help you find the right words. Click any box to get started.
3 across Consume greedily and noisily. 6 letters
5 across Irritable and argumentative. 5 letters
1 down Soft paste used to seal around the edges of windows. 5 letters
2 down A large group of similar things; a collective noun for a group of roe deer, quails, or larks. 4 letters
4 down Outer, coloured rind of a lemon, with an invigorating flavour; enthusiasm. 4 letters
Posted October 20 2024
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135
Report this short conversation, without using the speakers’ exact words.
Reported or indirect speech is speech that is given in summary form rather than transcribed word for word and placed between quotation marks. For example, this speech from Tolstoy’s War and Peace
“I am very glad I did not go to the ambassador’s,” said Prince Hippolyte “— so dull.”
may be reported as
Prince Hippolyte said that he was very glad that he had not gone to the Ambassador’s, as it would have been so dull.
Read this exchange from the same novel:
Anna Pávlovna: “Do you know the Abbé Morio? He is a most interesting man.”
Monsieur Pierre: “Yes, I have heard of his scheme for perpetual peace, and it is very interesting but hardly feasible.”
See if you can report the substance of the conversation in the same fashion as the example above. You may wish to begin with something like
Anna asked Pierre...
Posted October 19 2024
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136
In August, 1775, King George III responded to the news of rebellion in the American colonies.
Posted October 19 2024
137
How briefly can you explain just why these were silly things to do?
In Think and Speak (1929), NL Clay asked his students questions such as:
Why was it stupid of the nurse to wake up her patient to give him a sleeping draught?
This is not as trivial as it sounds: it is an exercise in constructing various kinds of clause, especially causal and conditional. Try answering the question, and you’ll soon see.
This kind of humour was very popular with the ancient Greeks. Some examples were translated for us by American clergyman Charles Clinch Bubb (1876-1036), from a collection credited to Hierocles of Alexandria (5th century AD). The role of the addlepated nurse was taken by the stock character of the Pedant, someone who was just too literal-minded for his own good.
Why was it stupid? ...
1 A pedant whilst swimming almost choked to death. He made an oath that he would not go into the water again until he had first learned to swim well.
2 One of twin brothers died and a pedant meeting the survivor asked him, ‘Did you die, or was it your brother?’.
3 A son of a pedant being sent to battle by his father promised to return bringing the head of one of his foes. He replied, ‘Even though I see you coming without any head, I shall be glad.’
If these seem too easy, see how short you can make your answer, for example, 21 words or fewer.
Or, write down what the Pedant should have said.
Posted October 17 2024
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138
If he is going to drop him, the embattled poet would prefer his friend to get on with it.
Posted October 17 2024